JERUSALEM — Israel has no chance of signing a permanent peace accord with the Palestinians and should instead seek a long-term interim deal, the most powerful political partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

The remarks by Avigdor Lieberman, an ultranationalist whose joint party list with Netanyahu narrowly won a Jan. 22 election while centrist challengers made surprise gains, seemed designed to dampen expectations at home and abroad of fresh peacemaking.

A spring visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by U.S. President Barack Obama, announced this week, has stirred speculation that foreign pressure for a diplomatic breakthrough could build - though Washington played down that possibility.

In a television interview, ex-foreign minister Lieberman linked the more than two-year-old impasse to pan-Arab political upheaval that has boosted Islamists hostile to the Jewish state.

JERUSALEM February 9, 2013 (AP)
A powerful partner of Israel's prime minister has called peace with the Palestinians "impossible," saying the conflict between them and Israel can only be "managed."

--CLIP
Lieberman resigned as foreign minister two months ago after he was indicted for breach of trust in a fraud and money-laundering case. He remains a powerful lawmaker and Netanyahu's top political ally.